EMERGENCY MEDICAL AND AMBULANCE SERVICES IN PORTUGAL

AT-A-GLANCE

IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, DIAL 112 to reach an ambulance in Portugal.

Emergency medical services are a “relatively recent achievement” having started in earnest in Lisbon in the 1980s and spread rapidly across the country. Based largely on the French SAMU system, Portugal has made significant strides in a short amount of time, though coverage and quality are not uniform across the country.

All are able to deliver advanced life support (ALS), pediatric advanced life support (PALS) and advanced trauma life support (ATLS)

HOW WILL I GET TRANSPORTED?

There are three types of response vehicles used as ambulance in Portugal:

Rapid Intervention Vehicle

Based out of hospitals

Sent when advanced life support (ALS) is required

Staffed with a physician and nurse-driver

Manual Defibrillator

12-lead ECG

Advanced Airway Mgmt

Suction

O2 Therapy

Fluids

Fracture Immobilization

Pharmacotherapy

Vital Signs Monitor

Portable Automatic Ventilator

Ambulances dispatched from Ambulance Centers

Staffed by two trained basic life support (BLS) responders

BLS and Rescue Equipment

In rural areas not served by the CODU dispatch center, BLS responders attached to police and/or fire departments may be dispatched

Helicopter EMS

WHERE WILL I BE TRANSPORTED TO?

As of 2004 (Gomes), there were no national standards for hospital emergency departments in Portugal, with individual institutions in charge of determining the organization of their departments. Rarely do the hospital emergency departments have their own medical staff and the physical structure and organization of EDs varied considerably between hospitals. It was reported that there was an increasing awareness that this was unsatisfactory, as well as some optimism that a common national structure would emerge in the near future. Despite the concerns, it was reported that close relationships existed between clinical and prehospital providers, with bypass protocols for coronary disease, stroke and trauma routinely used to deliver patients to more appropriate facilities.

HOW WILL I PAY?

Health care is mostly a public service funded mainly through taxation: “Health subsystems and insurance companies are charged retrospectively for the medical service delivered” (Gomes, 257). It is not clear whether tourists would be required to pay for transport by ambulance in Portugal, and if so, how much.

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